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AFCON 2023: “We’re ready for battle” – South African defender relishing Nigeria clash

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will take on the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in the AFCON 2023 semi-final at the Stade de la Paix in Bouaké.

South Africa and Mamelodi Sundowns left-back, Terrence Mashego is relishing his side’s AFCON semi-final clash against the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Soccernet.ng reports.

Mashego, 27, has played just six minutes of football in Ivory Coast since the start of the AFCON 2023 tournament and is confident that his side can go toe-to-toe with the Super Eagles.

The Bafana Bafana are looking to get into the final of an AFCON tournament for the first time since 1998 but will have to go through Jose Peseiro’s men to reach their goal.

Mashego recognizes the threat that the Super Eagles possess and made sure not to downplay them, but equally put up a good defence for his side, and is expecting an even matchup.

“It’s going to be a difficult game, you know Nigeria has a good squad but also on our side, we have a good squad, so it’s going to be a very good game. We’re confident in our defence, we’ve gone for four games without conceding, we’re ready for any battle,” the former Cape Town City F.C. defender said in quotes revealed by idiskitimes.

He however doesn’t want to get ahead of himself, but instead wants to walk the talk on the pitch and hopefully, his team’s hard work and persistence will yield results

“I’d say we don’t want to pressurise ourselves, so we just have to take it one game at a time and we might find ourselves in the final,” he added.

Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro, is also taking no chances, making his intent clear as a win or nothing will do for the Portuguese.

Adefolahan Guerreiro

Adefolahan is a multilingual journalist and writer at Soccernet Nigeria. With a track record of involvement in College sports, Adefolahan is focused on crafting engaging football content and utilising his language skills and extensive sports knowledge to enhance content accessibility for a global audience. He has interviewed Nigerian stars like Finidi George, Junior Lokosa, and Abraham Onahi Ogbu.

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